City News

A few months ago, the City’s Complete Streets Safety Committee discussed improving visibility at the intersection of San Bruno and Alvarado, which is the block before Brisbane Elementary School when heading up San Bruno. Last Thursday, the City’s contractor completed the painting of white chevrons or diagonal lines which indicate no parking at all 8 curb returns to improve the safety of pedestrians, for both children and adults alike. After the work was completed, city staff determined that a few more chevrons were put down on the roadway than originally planned. Thus, the contractor will be back out in early December to rectify the situation, which will also result in a few parking spaces being added back to the street. Thank you for your patience and understanding as this issue is resolved. For any questions about this project, please contact the Public Works Dept. at (415) 508-2130.

Special thanks to Brisbane Public Works for helping residents dispose of their yard waste on Saturday and Sunday and to South San Francisco Scavenger Co. for the 35 total trips their trucks made to haul all of it away!

Since April of 2015, Caltrain has been performing work within the railroad right-of-way in Brisbane as part of the Advanced Signal System Project to upgrade the safety, performance, and operating efficiency of the Peninsula’s commuter rail system.

On November 28 – December 2, Caltrain will be conducting safety tests on the corridor as part of the final phase of implementing the Advanced Signal System Project. To test the Advanced Signal System, including the roadway crossings, a test train will run through the corridor between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Tests are conducted at night to avoid disruption of most of regular train service and properly record the results. Neighbors may experience standard gate crossing noise and horns during this time and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Advanced Signal System, also called Communications Based Overlay Signal System (CBOSS) Positive Train Control (PTC) will equip the corridor with federally-mandated safety technology and increase system capacity to help accommodate future ridership demand. The Project will monitor and, if necessary, control train movement in the event of human error. This will increase safety by:

The CBOSS PTC system is scheduled to be operational by 2015 and is a key component of the Caltrain Modernization Program, which will electrify the Caltrain Corridor by 2019. An electrified Caltrain will be cleaner and quieter and will upgrade the system to provide faster and/or more frequent service to more stations and riders.

To implement the CBOSS PTC system, there are several installation phases (boring, conduit, fiber pulling, testing) that will occur within Caltrain's right-of-way, usually at night (8pm to 6am) in order to maintain regular train service. Testing of the fiber cable and the overall system is scheduled for spring 2015. Residents may experience some minor installation noise during this time. For more information, please view the Caltrain's CBOSS PTC Project page or contact Caltrain at (650) 508-6499; e-mail: caltrainptc@samtrans.com .

UPDATE 11/19, 12:38pm - The SFPUC placed a segment of pipeline into service on 11-17-16 after routine maintenance activities. Some customers in South San Francisco, Brisbane, and the southern portion of San Francisco may experience temporary taste and odor issues because of stagnant water that was in this pipeline. The SFPUC has flushed water in its service area to correct this problem. Additionally, the SFPUC has collected and analyzed water samples from the service area and determined that Federal and State drinking water standards are being met.

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On Friday, city staff received several citizen complaints of taste and odor issues coming from their faucets. After conducting a review of our internal operations and finding no likely cause for these issues, we contacted our wholesale supplier, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provided the statement below on Friday evening.

The SFPUC placed a segment of pipeline into service yesterday after routine maintenance activities. Some customers in South San Francisco, Brisbane, and the southern portion of San Francisco may experience temporary taste and odor issues because of this activity. The SFPUC is in the process of collecting water quality samples in its customer complaint areas to evaluate this event. The system should return to normal over the next 24-48 hours.

In order to make necessary improvements to the water main, water service will temporarily be shut down at the addresses highlighted in blue on the map below of Joy Ave., Gladys Rd., Lake St., and San Bruno Avenue. The scheduled shutdown will occur on Monday, November 21st from 10am - 4pm. Repair work at Lake St. and San Bruno will take place that day from 8am - 5pm. Click on the map to view larger.

We thank you for your patience and understanding as the work is being completed. If you have any questions, please contact the Public Works Dept. at (415) 508-2130.

Mayor Cliff Lentz provided the City's 2016 State of the City Address last Thursday at the DoubleTree Hotel in Brisbane. Take a look at project highlights from the past year, and those to come by watching the recording below, which will also be played back on Ch. 27 through the first part of 2017. Thank you to the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce for hosting this annual event! Click here to view the slides from the Mayor's PowerPoint presentation.

Each year, the Chamber of Commerce hosts the State of the City Address, which was held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Brisbane and attended by residents as well as members of the business community.Taking place just two days after the U.S. Presidential Election, Mayor Lentz started off with the notion of what change means.It could mean going to something new, or something different, or going back to something that used to be.Being in Brisbane for the past 27 years, he has seen a lot of change, but has come to know that in Brisbane, “We do change because we want to make our town better.”And there are things that haven’t changed since the day he’s arrived – “having a safe community, a community that takes care of each other, that connectivity to nature, the great services, having responsible government – those things still exist today and we’re thriving in those areas, and many others.”He then went into detail on projects and events that show where we’ve been and where we’re going.

An example community project that shows our collaborative effort is the new Brisbane Skatepark, which opened this past summer.It started as a grassroots effort with students coming to a Council Meeting to encourage Council’s support of building a new skatepark.It gained momentum in the community, with t-shirt sales and car show proceeds going towards the project, along with families, individuals and businesses reserving bricks in the Commit-to-a-Brick campaign that were placed at the entrance to the Skatepark once construction wrapped up.Others made in-kind donations with the services their business offered and the city received a grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation.All of this offset the total Skatepark construction costs by nearly 20%, making it a truly collaborative and community effort.

Mayor Lentz also highlighted the plans for the new Brisbane Library, something many in the community have wanted for a very long time.This will be a fantastic addition to our downtown, which will be 2.5 times the size of the current library.The plans include a maker space site, separate teen and children areas, breakrooms, a community space, a historic archive area, an open outside courtyard, just to name a few items.Not only will the new library have amazing design qualities, it will be built very sustainably.The plans include a rainwater cistern, solar panels, and be zero net emissions/carbon-neutral.Just as we always take on projects with a very strong emphasis on community engagement, the same will be done as we move forward to determine the use(s) of the old library site.

The Mayor touched on Priority-Based Budgeting and the five results/categories that the City Council is committed to adopting fiscal plans around.The five results are:

Ensuring Brisbane is a SAFE community

Enhancing residents’ lives through COMMUNITY BUILDING

Promoting ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

Creating opportunities through ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, and

Safeguarding community services through FISCAL PRUDENCE

In considering the City’s financial state, more money has brought in than what has been spent, which then get placed into reserves.Specifically, the City’s reserves have been increased by nearly $5 million in 4 years (2012-2015).These reserves are then able to fund programs for the Teens, such as the $50,000 that is applied to help fund the Afterschool Program at Lipman where it’s been seen that so many more Teens are involved in afterschool programs than ever before.We’ve also been able to install new handrails on stairways in town that aid in Brisbane’s walkability and safety.The City is also caught up on deferred maintenance at the Pool, Storm Drain System, trails and paths.Funds have also been set aside for repair and maintenance of infrastructure and to reduce long-term liabilities.

Upcoming projects include the Parkside Precise Plan, where locations across the street from the Community Park and near amenities were identified as sites for future housing, including affordable housing.The hope is for all Brisbane residents, from the younger generation(s) to seniors, the ability to age in place and to live out the rest of their lives in dignity.

Sierra Point is starting to get a lot of traction with building going on in San Francisco and down the Peninsula to Silicon Valley.Before everything is built out, one of the things the City wants to do is to create a great public space.Therefore, the City is working with OPUS, a property owner out at Sierra Point, to have already-existing uses in their development agreement such as R&D or a hotel and in return, the City potentially getting back the piece of property to one day create this public space.

The Mayor concluded his remarks with talking about the Baylands Project and the Baylands Sustainability Framework.The public process for the Baylands Project started in 2006 and where the Council is embarking on its deliberations and reviewing the project and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on a monthly basis through Spring 2017.In 2017, the Council will decide if any changes are needed to be made to the General Plan.Ultimately, the Council has expressed that the final outcome of the Baylands development will be decided by Brisbane voters.

The City of Brisbane has been recognized by the Institute for Local Government for its holistic view at tackling climate change and reducing its carbon footprint.Stay tuned for community workshops that will be held in early 2017 to help the community become more aware about these principles that will guide any development that occurs at the Baylands.